Friday 26 June 2009

Sour Milk Chocolate Cake



I opened a new jug of milk yesterday only to discover that it had all gone sour, and it wasn't even near it's sell by date either! It wasn't worth the expensive of the petrol to take it back to the shops . . .

It wasn't even worth shedding any tears . . . quite the contrary actually . . .

It was a wonderful opportunity to make this delicious chocolate cake. Moistly moreish, this cake is a winner in every sense of the word. Rich, chocolatey and scrumdiddlyumptious!!



Actually we did not keep it in our house . . . much too dangerous for that. Todd had to go do some home teaching yesterday afternoon and so I sent it with him.

I know, I know . . . a piece was missing . . . but as anybody knows, you don't look a gift horse in it's mouth . . . or cake horse as it were.

Besides, everyone knows me by now . . . things often have pieces missing. Such is the trial of being the friend of a food blogger . . . the fringe benefits are well worth it though. Free cake.




*Sour Milk Chocolate Cake*
Makes one 13 x 9 x 2 cake
(Or one deep 12 inch round)
Printable Recipe

This is wonderfully moist and rich. You don't really need a frosting on it, but I have included a tasty brown sugar frosting that really is the icing on the cake!

1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
3 TBS baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sour milk
1/4 cup hot water
1 TBS vanilla


Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Grease your cake tin and lightly dust it with flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Mix together the egg, butter, sour milk, hot water and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients. Beat (preferably with an electric mixer) for 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until it tests done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. NO need to remove from the pan.

Note - To sour sweet milk, place 1 TBS of vinegar in a measuring cup and add enough milk to make up 1 cup of liquid.

*Frosting*
Makes enough to frost the top of one cake

1/4 cup butter
2 TBS soft light brown sugar
3/4 cup sifted icing sugar
2 TBS cream
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Place the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Stir in cream and whisk to blend well. Stir in the icing sugar until it is creamy and spreadable. (You may need more) Spread on top of cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

49 comments

  1. Looks yummy. When life gives you sour milk. . .

    I also use soured (soy)milk in Irish soda bread. Such good stuff.

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  2. First again! Hee hee hee.

    You gave away chocolate cake? Are you mad? I wouldn't even want to share it, let alone give it away! Oh well, if you must. Things with bits missing out of them often qualify for Arts Council grants........could make your fortune, a choccy cake with a bit missing.

    love, Angie, xx

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  3. That cake looks so yummy and, as always - it is your frosting that has me especially drooling for a bite.

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  4. Isn't it funny? I have never known you can use sour milk!Great idea..bet it's delicious and I just learned something new at 55:)My husband favors chocolate cakes..Love the word petrol too..here in Canada we say Gas:(

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  5. LOVE this cake and with the yummy brown sugar frosting...Oh, sooooo good! And love your intro here--so funny..cake horse! ;o) But how good of you to give away such a lovely cake--bless your heart. Happy weekend, dear friend. LOVE YA ((BIG HUGS)

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  6. It's been TOO long since I was here...the cake looks DIVINE. I would never think to use sour milk! We'd use buttermilk over here...but I never have buttermilk, so I always use skim with lemon juice. Same thing, right?

    Oh, and I'm LOVING your music mix. So relaxing.

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  7. Wow - what a novel way to use up sour milk! I bake muffins with buttermilk but would never have thought to make a chocolate cake with sour milk. Still, when you think about it, it's no different... Looks fantastically moist & delicious.

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  8. I am confused. Is the flour SR or plain? Do you mean baking powder or bicarbonate of soda?

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  9. HI Anonymous. That is plain flour and bicarbonate of soda. It works with the sour milk to help the cake rise. You must always use Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) with an acidic liquid such as sour milk, buttermilk or sour cream. Hope this clears things up for you, and happy baking! This is truly a lovely cake, moist and rich.

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  10. Wow I have a a few litres of sour milk, I drive 1.5 hours every week to a friend to buy raw milk so I don't like the thought of throwing away sour milk. I have made pancakes they tasted very much lik sour dough pancakes the children ate them though!

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  11. Kathy Douthit USA/France3 February 2010 at 00:27

    I'm going to try this....it looks super !! Also I want to congratulate you on your blog. I live in the middle of France with quite a few English expats....and they are all wonderful cooks!! The French have good food, but they have no reason to be so critical of English cooking....so many yummy things !!

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  12. Wow The is the best cake I have ever made! Thank you so much!! This is a saver! I wanted to say that I added a little cinnanmon.

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  13. Looks fantastic. Do I really need to use sour milk though??

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  14. SD you DO need to use sour milk. It works with the baking soda and helps to make a really moist and delicious cake. It's not hard to sour your own milk. If you really don't want to use sour milk, I would decrease the soda to 1/2 tsp and add 1 tsp of baking powder. I cannot vouch for the results though as I have never done this.

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  15. This cake is fabulous!! I eat gluten free and just used a great all-purpose flour. It is so tender, moist...Mmmmmm.

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  16. Oh, I forgot one thing...I added about 3 Tablespoons of pureed chickpea/garbanzo bean in with the hot water. It made no taste difference that my husband noticed, but it adds some great nutrition;) Thanks again for the recipe!

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  17. Just made your cake because I was looking for something to do with my leftover sour raw milk. Like another writer, I hate to discard it. Anyway, I used whole wheat flour and threw all the milk in (about 3 cups in a doubled batch.) Left out the water and also used half butter, half lard. Fabulous! Thank you for the inspiration if not the exact recipe!!

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  18. Can you sub chocolate milk for the milk? I have been given twenty - thirty half pint/236 ml of chocolate milk past its prime date. Need to make a chocolate cake to bring back as a revenge cake to the teachers....;)

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  19. I can't see why not Mohawk Crafter. That would make it nice and chocolatey! Let me know how it turns out! It could be inspired!

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  20. Hi, I just made your cake with a few minor changes - it worked very well, thanks, I wrote about it in my blog here http://ecozee.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/chocolate-cake-with-sour-milk/

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  21. I just made your cake (with a few minor changes). Lovely, I wrote about it in my blog with a link to you. Happy baking!


    http://ecozee.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/chocolate-cake-with-sour-milk/

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  22. Hello :)

    Could you please confirm, which cream did you use for the frosting? Was it single cream or double cream? Or doesn't it matter? :) Thanks in advance xx

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  23. Hi Atarashii! I would have used double cream as I always have that in my refrigerator, but I don't think it really matters. To be perfectly honest, I think even milk would work.

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  24. Hi Marie,
    Thanks ever so much for the very prompt response. I have both in my fridge actually, so will try both & see which is best. Thanks very much again & I'm off to do this cake now :) :) xxx

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  25. You are welcome Atarashii! I hope that you enjoy the cake! xx

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  26. This is so yummy and easy! I threw some semi-sweet chocolate chips in (tossed them in some flour first) and it's sooo yummy t get a bite with a chip in it!

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  27. Thanks Claire. So happy you enjoyed! xx

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  28. Hello! I'm learning that my Grandma's "super secret, handed down from the generations" chocolate cake recipe is actually a rather popular recipe. One question for you: I find the cake to be simultaneously very moist and very crumbly. Does yours behave similarly? I'm trying to resolve it and don't have the time or money to go all "lab test kitchen" to puzzle it out. Thanks in advance!

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    1. There is nothing new under the sun Daniel, just new ways of doing things, lol I strongly suspect that most people's secret recipes have their roots in the same beginnings! I have never thought about this cake being moist and crumbly at the same time, and am racking my brain to try to remember if it is. Dangit now I will have to bake one to check, lol Merry Christmas!

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  29. Yes, we seem to send stuff out of the house for home and visiting teaching too. And sometimes, we just pick a random ward family that has kids to get some of the desserts we make. But, all the chocolate free gross flops go to the chickens :) And in turn they give us delicious eggs .. win win..

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  30. Recipe turned out perfect. The cake was moist & delicious. The frosting combination was wonderful. Will be making this again & again!

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    1. Very pleased this was enjoyed Morgan! Thanks for taking the time to let us know! Xo

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  31. I have made this cake several times, and have found that I need to make a few basic changes for HIGH ALTITUDE (I live at ~8000 feet/2500m). It comes out best when I add 2TBSP flour, 1TBSP sour milk, decrease sugar by 1TBSP, and use 1/2tsp baking soda + 1/2tsp powder, and bake at 365 (reduce time slightly)

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    1. Thanks so much for this information Sarah! I don't know a lot about high altitude baking. This is very helpful! xo

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    2. In general the modification instructions on the King Arthur Flour site work very well and it's a great place to start for most recipes: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html

      However, they recommend avoiding sour milk + baking soda, but how is one ever supposed to use up sour milk that way??

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    3. I suppose you just use baking powder instead??? I don't know Perhaps it is a question for King Arthur Flour??

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  32. Just made this, with some homemade kefir that went pretty tangy. It's delicious and it was so easy! And ... that frosting is almost fudge. Had to convince myself to not eat it with a sppon. Thank you!

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    1. So pleased that it was enjoyed! Also nice to know that you can use Kefir! Thanks for taking the time to share! xoxo

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  33. I don't usually leave reviews, but after making this cake last night, I had to. My newly adult son hasn't eaten cake in YEARS, says he doesn't like the texture. I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest, and loved your photo, background and just your site in general. Our freezer died and I think the fridge isn't too far behind. I had about 1/4 a gallon of whole milk that soured on me. I doubled the recipe, omitted the water and just used an additional 1/2 cup of the milk instead and my son as well as his siblings absolutely LOVED the cake. I am so grateful to have not only found a wonderfully received chocolate cake, but to also have avoided wasting food. Bless you. Stay safe!

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    1. So pleased that you were happy with this cake Mel! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and share your experience! You also stay safe! xo

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  34. Made this today exactly as written. Very good but could use a bump more chocolate flavor. Next time will add cup of mini choc chips perhaps. Barely had enough frosting for 9 x12 cake so will double it next time also. Liked the idea of cinnamon. Will think about that. Moist and light. Definitely is better with this icing.

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    1. Cake and icing just go together like peas and carrots Granny! xoxo

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  35. Nice cake! Great way to use my spoiled milk. I added cinnamon like I do to most baking recipes and drizzled a simple chocolate glaze over it.

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  36. This is so delicious. I made it today and my grand daughter kept asking for more. I did not have brown sugar so I just made a simple buttercream. Tasted like an Oreo cookie.
    Yummy!!

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    1. I am so pleased this was enjoyed! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience! Xo

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  37. Made this cake to use up some milk that had gone sour. It was so yummy, have been souring milk just to make this cake if I don't have any! Now made it many times since I discovered it during the pandemic. This cake is fast and easy to make and does freeze very well unfrosted. Try to freeze half so it doesn't get eaten all at once, but honestly, it's back out of the freezer within a week or two... So moist that it's delicious unfrosted (when I feel lazy and want a quick treat) and also delicious with the frosting you've provided here too (when I feel fancy). Always a winner! Thanks!

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know your experience with this recipe Xina! It is very much appreciated! So happy that you like it! xoxo

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